TOPOGEAPHY OF AMAZONIA. 115 



south side, which stands on a bluff rising 215 feet above lov.' -water level. 

 Tunantins, on the left bank between the loops of the Iça and Jutahy affluents, 

 stands on the site of the old mission of Tunati. 



Being easily navigable to the foot of the Andes by craft drawing six or seven 

 feet, the Iça is much visited by rubber and sarsaparilla seekers. Its upper course 

 is occupied by the Macaguajes, the middle by the Orejones, and the lower by the 

 Ticunas. The Orejones slit lips, ears, and nostrils for the insertion of ornaments, 

 wear a willow band as the national costume, still wield the stone axe, and make 

 some fine pottery. 



From Tunantins to the port of Fonte Boa (" Good Well ") follow a series of 

 islands formerly frequented by millions of turtles, which yielded vast quantities of 

 oil to the Portuguese traders. But being recklessly hunted down, they have 

 now forsaken these breeding- gr-ounds. 



Teffe — Stations on the Purus and Madeira. 



Tcffe, formerly Ega, owes its present name to the river on which it stands. 

 Although containing less than 1,000 inhabitants, it ranks as a great city in the 

 Solimoes basin. Its foundations were laid in 1668 by the missionary Samuel Fritz 

 as a station for Indians who have since lost their tribal name and become merged 

 with the other half-caste Tapuyo populations. In 1781 the Hispano-Portuguese 

 Boundary Commission established its headquarters at Ega, and the naturalist 

 Bates made choice of the same place as the centre of his excursions in Upper 

 Amazonia during the years 1850-59. 



Teffe enjoys great natural advantages in its healthy climate, its almost complete 

 immunity from mosquitoes, its rich soil and vegetation, its excellent commercial 

 position in the centre of a network of navigable waters, and lastly its spacious 

 harbour formed by the deep lake fed by the Rio Teffe by a lateral channel on its 

 right bank. It is also a pleasant place of residence, every house having its orange 

 and banana grove and its turtle pond. 



On the west side of the lake stands the village of Nogueira, famous throughout 

 Amazonia for its earthenware decorated with geometrical designs. Farther down 

 follow the settlements of Coary {AreUm) on the right bank, at the mouth of the 

 Rio Coary, and Codajaz on one of the creeks, through which the Lower Japura 

 communicates with the Solimoes. 



Till recently the great River Purus, longer than the Danube, had not a single 

 white habitation on its banks. But despite its insalubrity, the crowds of mosquitoes, 

 and other drawbacks, the extreme richness of its forests in rubber and other 

 valuable products has somewhat suddenly begun to attract settlers. The first 

 steamer, which made its appearance in 1862, was followed in 1869 by a flotilla of 

 15 boats, by which a regular service was established from the Amazons to the 

 first camping grounds of the sen'ngneiros. These rubber-hunters increased from 

 2,000 in 1871 to no less than 50,000 in 1890, nearly all nomads, besides the local 

 tribes. 



In 1871 Labre, one of the most active explorers of the Upper Purus basin, 



